Manufacturing method of a perpendicular recording magnetic head
Embodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to methods wherein when a main pole is processed by using an ion milling technique, a re-adhesion layer created on the side face of the resist mask is removed with certainty. In one embodiment, an inorganic insulator from 5 nm to 100 nm which is soluble in an alkaline is arranged between the main pole material and a mask for processing the main pole material, and the main pole is processed by ion milling. After this process, the mask is peeled off, a surface treatment is performed by using an alkaline solution, resulting in the re-deposition film being removed.
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The instant nonprovisional patent application claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2006-000185, filed Jan. 4, 2006 and incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to a manufacturing method of a thin film magnetic head utilized for reading/writing to a magnetic disk system.
The needs for storing images and music, etc. in a hard-disk drive have been spreading rapidly to such an extent that they are seen as hard-disk drives added to video recorders and hard-disk drives built into televisions, etc. With the increase in image data, there is a demand for increased density, even in the longitudinal recording density of a magnetic disk drive. Currently, in order to achieve a high recording density of 100 Gbit/inch2 or more in a magnetic head, the transfer in technology from a longitudinal recording to a perpendicular recording has been progressing rapidly. This is due to thermal fluctuations of the magnetization which occur in the medium when the bit length is made smaller, and the longitudinal recording density cannot be increased in the case when a current longitudinal recording method is used.
On the other hand, in a perpendicular magnetic recording method, this thermal fluctuation can be avoided because it is magnetized in the perpendicular direction of the medium. Moreover, since a single pole head is used for recording, the magnetic loss is small, and since there is a soft under layer on the medium side, the recording ability is also improved. This also becomes a motivation for the aforementioned transfer to a perpendicular magnetic head. By the way, in this perpendicular write head, an improvement in the longitudinal recording density is required. In order to achieve this, it is necessary to reduce the write track width. However, the reduction of the recording track brings a decrease in the magnetic field applied to the magnetic recording disk from the tip of the main pole. In order to prevent this decrease in the magnetic field, a thicker film thickness of the main pole is preferable. On the other hand, in a magnetic disk system, it is necessary to read/write over a wide range from the inner radius to the outer radius of the magnetic recording disk. At this time, the read/write is performed in a state where the magnetic head has a skew angle of about 0 to 15° against the tangent in the rotation direction of the magnetic recording disk at the inner radius and the outer radius of the magnetic recording disk. In this case, a problem arises where the adjacent track is erased when the shape of the main pole at the air bearing surface is rectangular, so that the write track width cannot be reduced. To solve the problem, a so-called reverse-trapezoid shaped main pole is proposed, which will accommodate the narrow track width, that is, by the track width at the reading side of the main pole being made narrower than the width at the trailing side of the main pole. As a manufacturing method of a magnetic head having a reverse-trapezoid shaped main pole, a manufacturing method, especially applying an ion milling technique, is disclosed. For instance, JP-A No. 18836/2005 A discloses a manufacturing method applying an ion milling technique by using a resist, a non-magnetic insulation film, and a non-magnetic metal film as a mask. Moreover, JP-A No. 203311/2003 A discloses an ion milling angle for processing a reverse-trapezoid shape by using a buffer layer as a mask.
However, when a manufacturing method using an ion milling technique is applied to the aforementioned formation process of a main pole, a magnetic material which is a main pole material etched by ion milling, and alumina and an organic resin which are mask materials inevitably adhere again to the side face of the mask of the main pole in the track direction. The re-deposition film formed like this remains like a fence after removing the resist. If the re-deposition film remains, it brings such problems like the creation of a starting-point of voids during formation of alumina in the following process, and coverage failure, and, as another problem, a non-uniform plating failure occurs which is due to the failure of the under-layer while forming a shield for an improvement of the field gradient by plating. Thus, the yield not only is remarkably decreased, but it also causes a characteristic deterioration, and the reliability will be reduced when the re-deposition film remains.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONEmbodiments in accordance with the present invention relate to methods wherein when a main pole is processed by using an ion milling technique, a re-adhesion layer created on the side face of the resist mask is removed with certainty. Referring to the embodiment of
An objective of certain embodiments in accordance with the present invention is to provide a manufacturing method of a main pole which enables removal of a re-deposition film considering the problem of the re-deposition film formation which is a result of ion milling.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, for instance, an inorganic insulator and an organic resist film are formed over a main pole layer as a mask material to process a main pole. As an inorganic insulator film, a material such as Al2O3, Al2O3—SiO2, etc. which are soluble in an alkali is used. During processing, a main pole material is first processed by an ion milling technique using a mask. After the process is completed, the organic resist film is removed and the re-deposition film which adheres to the side face of the mask according to ion milling processing is removed by etching a part of the inorganic insulator formed over the main pole material by using an alkaline solution.
The preferable thickness of the inorganic insulator is in a range from 10 nm to 100 nm. A non-magnetic metal film is formed in the gap of the main pole layer and the inorganic insulator to prevent oxidation of the main pole. Moreover, an FeCo film and a multilayer film of FeCo and a non-magnetic film formed by a sputtering method or CoNiFe and FeCo formed by a plating method are preferable as a main pole material.
By arranging an inorganic insulator which is soluble in an alkaline between the main pole material and the mask, the re-deposition film which is created like a fence on both faces of the mask during ion milling can be completely removed by dissolving the inorganic insulator by the alkali treatment. As a result, defects such as alumina voids in the following process can be prevented. Moreover, for instance, even in the case when a shield etc. is added around the main pole for improvement of the field gradient, plating failure does not occur and characteristic deterioration does not occur, thereby, a perpendicular recording magnetic head which has excellent manufacturability and high reliability can be supplied.
Hereafter, the embodiments of the present invention will be explained referring to the drawings. In the following drawings, the same reference codes are given to parts with a similar function.
A material which is soluble in an alkaline such as alumina and alumina oxide, etc. is suitable for the inorganic insulation layer 24. Herein, alumina was used. The ion milling rate of alumina is low compared with the main pole material, FeCo/Cr. Therefore, the film thickness of alumina was controlled to be 50 nm. Considering the ion milling process time and the film thickness of the resist film corresponding to it or considering the inorganic insulator film becoming a trailing gap, it is preferable that the film thickness of this inorganic insulator is in the range from 5 nm to 100 nm. Moreover, the two-layer resist (22/23) is used for the resist mask 30 for processing. An organic resin which has no photosensitivity is used for the lower resist 23 and the film thickness is controlled to be 1.0 μm. A polyimide resin and a novolac resin may be used for this organic resin. The lower resist 23 mainly works as a mask for ion milling. Furthermore, a resist containing Si was used for the upper resist 22 and the film thickness is controlled to be 0.4 μm. The film thickness of this upper layer/lower layer resist is determined by the film thicknesses of the inorganic insulator and the main pole. The upper resist 22 is used for patterning the lower resist 23. Pattern formation of the upper resist 22 was carried out under the conditions of an exposure of 23 mj/cm2 and F=−0.1 μm by using a KrF excimer laser stepper.
A point of the present invention is a process in which an alkaline treatment solution is used for removal of the re-deposition film. Specifically, the main component of the re-deposition film is alumina, and attention is paid to the point where alumina is dissolved in the alkaline. Moreover, another feature of the present invention is that the re-deposition film 26 created on the inorganic insulator 24 can be completely removed with the inorganic insulation material by light-etching the inorganic insulator (alumina) 24 in the alkaline treatment. The etching rate with respect to alumina is about 6 nm/min. In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the alkaline treatment is performed by using a paddle method. The re-deposition film 26 could be completely removed from the entire surface of the wafer by etching the alumina film thickness by about 20 nm. Moreover, in the case when a part of the alumina constituting the inorganic insulator 24 is dissolved like this, the edge of the inorganic insulator 24 may become rounded.
According to this embodiment, a main pole without a re-deposition film could be formed and a perpendicular write head with high reliability could be manufactured. Moreover, according to a perpendicular write head in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the track density and the linear recording density could be improved, and a magnetic recording system having a areal recording density of 150 Gbit/in2 or more could be manufactured.
Claims
1. A manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head comprising:
- forming a main pole layer,
- forming an inorganic insulator over said main pole layer,
- coating a masking material over said inorganic insulator and forming a mask by patterning it,
- processing a main pole by ion-milling said main pole layer using said mask,
- removing said mask,
- dissolving a part of the inorganic insulator over said processed main pole by using an alkaline solution.
2. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- in a process for forming said mask, said mask is prepared by coating a first organic resist film over said inorganic insulator film, coating a second organic resist film over said first organic resist film, patterning said second organic resist film, and etching said first organic resist film by using said patterned second organic resist layer as a mask.
3. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- said inorganic insulator film is dissolved in an alkali.
4. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- a shape of said inorganic insulator film is one where the edges of both ends in a track width direction of said main pole are made round after a part thereof is dissolved in a alkaline solution.
5. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- in a process for making said mask, said mask is prepared by coating a resin having no photosensitivity over said inorganic insulator, coating an organic resist film thereon, patterning said organic resist film, and etching said resin having no photosensitivity by using said patterned organic resist film as a mask.
6. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- a film thickness of the inorganic insulator formed over said main pole layer is in a range from 10 nm to 100 nm.
7. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- a non-magnetic metal film is formed between said main pole layer and said inorganic insulation layer.
8. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 7, wherein
- said non-magnetic metal film is composed of one selected from NiCr, Cr, and Ta.
9. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 8, wherein
- a film thickness of said non-magnetic metal film is in a range from 5 nm to 20 nm.
10. The manufacturing method of a perpendicular write head according to claim 1, wherein
- said main pole layer consists of an FeCo film or a multilayer film of an FeCo film and a non-magnetic film formed with a sputtered film, or a CoNiFe film or an FeCo film formed by a plating method.
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Type: Grant
Filed: Dec 21, 2006
Date of Patent: Jun 24, 2008
Patent Publication Number: 20070186409
Assignee: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V. (Amsterdam)
Inventors: Kimitoshi Etoh (Kanagawa), Kikuo Kusukawa (Saitama), Hisashi Kimura (Kanagawa), Tomohiro Okada (Kanagawa)
Primary Examiner: Paul D Kim
Attorney: Townsend and Townsend and Crew LLP
Application Number: 11/645,104
International Classification: G11B 5/127 (20060101); H04R 31/00 (20060101);